


Picking Weeds

by MoominQuartz (IceCreAMS)



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Fluff, M/M, Roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:54:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23365762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceCreAMS/pseuds/MoominQuartz
Summary: Mikleo and Sorey buy the latest Animal Crossing. They have only one Nintendo Switch. Shenanigans ensue.
Relationships: Mikleo/Sorey (Tales of Zestiria)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 40
Collections: Writing Squad Anniversary Gift Exchange





	Picking Weeds

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Oliver__Niko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oliver__Niko/gifts).



> Me, write fluff? It's more likely than you think.
> 
> This was written as part of a "gift exchange" in a friend's discord writing server, in celebration of its anniversary! It's been a long time since I've written these guys but it was fun to return to them. I hope you like it, Ollie!

Sorey and Mikleo only have one Nintendo Switch. 

Ostensibly, this isn’t an issue.

“We’ll just take turns!” Sorey declares with wide, eager eyes. Mikleo cocks an eyebrow at him. “We’ll time it if we have too! C’mon, Mikleo!”

Mikleo shakes his head. “Sorey, here’s the thing. I have a tendency to min/max, and you have a tendency to be … particular.”

“What? No I don’t!”

“How many times have we played Smash Brothers together, and you wouldn’t let us start a match until we were color coordinated? Or because it ‘doesn’t make sense’ for Link and Zelda to fight?”

Sorey’s cheeks turn a familiar shade of red. “W-well, it doesn’t! So — so what’s your point?”

“If we get Animal Crossing, Sorey, we’re going to be fighting about it the entire time.”

“No, we  _ won’t!”  _ Sorey pouts at Mikleo with adorable puppy-dog eyes. “C’mon, Mikleo, our love is stronger than any video game! We’ll make it work!”

Mikleo gives a long sigh.

He’s never been able to resist those eyes.

* * *

Day one.

Sorey spends several hours having a riot while Mikleo focuses on everything else. To make certain he doesn’t overhear anything, he does some of the chores around the apartment with his headphones in. Then he picks up the book he’s been on-and-off reading, on the fence about giving up on, because the plot is in shambles.

When Sorey gets up from the couch with a languid stretch, he turns over to see Mikleo curled up in the armchair. “All right. Your turn.”

“Sweet.” Mikleo shuts the book and pulls out his phone.

Would you believe there are already guides out for this thing?

* * *

“What are you doing?”

Mikleo looks up, blinking, as if from a trance. Sorey stares at the TV screen with a furrowed brow.

“Daisy Mae only shows up on Sundays.”

“But it’s  _ Friday.” _

“Time travel.”

“You’re  _ time travelling?!”  _

Mikleo leverages Sorey a deadpan look sharp enough to get Sorey to laugh. “Okay, yeah, I probably should’ve seen that coming. It’s not gonna mess anything up, will it?”

“Not on your file,” Mikleo assures. 

“Cool.” Sorey still sounds a little worried.

* * *

“You invited  _ Rosie?” _

Mikleo blinks as he glances over from his book. Sorey’s staring at the “sold” sign on the lot he just finished furnishing, the villager’s name right on the screen.

“Uh. Yeah?”

“But I’m gonna have to trim my list now!” Sorey groans a little as he picks up his phone, presumably to look at said list. “Rosie’s cool and all, but top ten? No  _ way.” _

Mikleo huffs. “I like Rosie.”

“You just like her because he’s a cat. You love all the cat ones.”

Mikleo feels his face turn red. “N-no I don’t!”

“Rosie, Bob, Kiki, Tangy…”

“You can’t just list cat villagers!”

“But those are the ones you like! What about the new ones? If we’re gonna have a cat, it should be  _ Raymond.” _

“So what, now our island is an exclusive club?”

“It  _ is,”  _ Sorey insists, looking at Mikleo with his serious face. “We can only have ten people, and two are preset! We’ve got to make sure only the cutest and coolest villagers move in!”

“Sorey, they’re just animals.”

Sorey sighs in irritation. “It’s fine. Just ask me before you invite someone else, okay?”

Mikleo huffs and rolls his eyes and goes back to his book.

* * *

“Wait, why are your flowers planted like  _ that?”  _ Mikleo gestures to the screen, hoping to convey the gravity of this to Sorey, who only stares at it with a blank expression.

“Like what?”

“You’re not going to get hybrids if you cluster them together like that! Come on, Sorey. You’ve got to plant them diagonal from each other. What colors do you want?”

“Oh.” Sorey scratches his cheek — an action that gets daggers from Mikleo, so he quickly drops his hand. “I don’t care about any of that. I like how they look all together like this, because that’s how actual gardens look. It’s all about the aesthetic, you know?”

“Okay.” Mikleo inhales slowly and does not take any of this personal. “I’ll plant my own stuff, then. You’re not allowed to mess with them while I’m flower breeding.”

“What? Wait, you’re just gonna plant flowers in diagonal patterns everywhere?” A panicked look crosses Sorey’s face. “Hold on, that’s gonna look so bad!”

“Not after we get some cool ass flowers.”

Sorey groans. “Can I at least pick where you do it?”

“Nope.”

“I thought this game was  _ ours.” _

“It is.”

Sorey huffs.

* * *

“Why is it dark?”

Mikleo sighs. “The barreleye can only be found between 9 PM and 4 AM, and I’m also trying to get my hands on a coelacanth. They’re both super rare. That’s why I’m stocked up on bait.”

Sorey hums. “Time travel again?”

Mikleo nods. 

“Well, I guess if it doesn’t mess anything up…”

“It doesn’t.”

* * *

It does, and as Mikleo stares at the screen, he realizes he’s messed things up big time.

Just a quick pop into September, he thought. That’s when fall starts, so he can start collecting some of that stuff right now.

But it’s very different from what he expected. The ground is littered with weeds, but that isn’t the most horrifying thing. No — truly, the worst part of all of it is that where Reneigh’s house once stood, there’s nothing.

“Oh, shit.”

He glances around. Sorey’s not out of bed yet. He takes a deep breath, then he exhales slowly. “It’s okay,” he murmurs to himself, keeping his voice low. “I can fix this.”

He cannot fix it.

He resets the time and date to match the local time, but this does not undo any of it. He’s staring at the spot where the house once stood just as Sorey meanders out of the bedroom, yawning, limbs stretching. Mikleo watches him, frozen in place, as Sorey slowly pours himself a cup of coffee, oblivious to everything else. Slowly the love of his life circles around the kitchen and into the living room, taking a long, slow sip, and then his eyes light on Mikleo, blinking.

“What’s wrong?”

Mikleo swallows. “Uh. So. Remember how I said time traveling doesn’t hurt anything?”

Sorey’s clearly not awake yet. He takes another long sip of coffee, nearly spilling it all over his pale yellow sleep shirt. “Hmm?”

“Well, uh.” Mikleo laughs. “It turns out that if you go forward, the game thinks you haven’t played since the current day. And sometimes, uh, if you go too long without playing… sometimes residents will move out without telling you?”

Sorey blinks. He looks at Mikleo for a long moment, then he looks at the screen to see what Mikleo sees: a hole in their hearts.

“Reneigh?” he whispers, heartbroken.

“Reneigh,” Mikleo answers, an echo.

Sorey looks from the TV screen back to Mikleo, curled on the couch with a blanket and an empty coffee mug and bracing himself for the worst. But to his surprise, Sorey just laughs. “Heh. That’s fine, she was one of our preset, anyway.”

Mikleo blinks in surprise as Sorey comes and sits next to him. “Uh, but I thought you liked her?”

“Yeah, but she’s one of the easiest to get.” Sorey shrugs. “And I mean, it’s not like she was in my top ten. And all the weeds there just mean we can get that much more money.”

“Uh…” Mikleo frowns as Sorey nestles next to him. “W…why aren’t you mad?”

Sorey laughs. “Well, it’s just a game, Mikleo. Like I said, our love is stronger than any video game. Even if I like to give you a hard time for being a cat person.”

Warm fuzzies settle in Mikleo’s stomach. He reaches out and grabs two more Joy-Cons, setting up another controller, which he then extends to Sorey. “Wanna help me pick some weeds?”

Sorey grins as he takes it from him. “Of course.”


End file.
